Issue #62 * February 18, 1998 * David A. Ridenour, Editor

The Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA), a consortium
of corporate, foundation and individual donors to the environmental
movement, plan a two-day powwow in Denver, Colorado later this
week. The meeting, "State of the Environment: State Level
Environmental Activism in the Era of Devolution," will be
held February 19-20 at the Executive Tower Hotel. The EGA describes
itself as a "voluntary association of foundations and giving
programs concerned with the protection of the natural environment,"
that seeks, among other things, "to provide the means by
which members can improve their effectiveness as grantmakers...
[and] to communicate grantmaker interests and activities to grantseekers
and other interested parties." What this really means is
that the EGA acts as the puppet master of the environmental movement,
using its power of the purse to influence the agenda and programs
of the movement. As Mother Jones has noted: "By deciding
which organizations get money, the grant makers help set the agenda
of the environmental movement and influence the programs and strategies
that activists carry out." Not all environmental groups are
happy with this arrangement, particularly those at the grassroots
level. "There's definitely a feeling on the part of the not-for-profit
organizations that... they resent funders, not just picking the
issues, but also being directed in the sense of the kind of campaign,
the strategy, the style and so on," said Chuck Clusen of
the American Conservation Association. Topics to be addressed
at this week's EGA meeting include: "Environmentalists at
the State Level: The Playing Field for the 1990s and Beyond,"
"What Can Funders Do to Help Organizations Respond to the
Challenges at the State Level?" and "Clean Water: The
role of state and local groups in shaping and enforcing federal
policy." On hand to entertain the EGA will be marionettes
Dan Barry of the Environmental Working Group, Jeff Ruch of Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Kathy Nemsick, of
the Clean Water Network, Jim Martin of the Environmental Defense
Fund, and Rick Johnson of the Idaho Conservation League, among
others. Those interested in trying to obtain an invitation to
the meeting for themselves should contact the Rockefeller Family
Fund at 212/373-4252.

Support for Kempthorne ESA Bill Weaker Than Claimed:
Bill Backers Speak for Organizations Without Their Permission

Did you fall a few groups short of the number needed to make
your newspaper advertisement look really impressive? No problem,
just make a few up. That at least appears to be the view of the
Endangered Species Coordinating Council, a timber industry- backed
coalition group that supports Senator Dirk Kempthorne's Endangered
Species Act bill.

On February 2, the Coordinating Council ran a full-page ad
in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call listing over 200 organizations
and companies as backers of Idaho Senator Dirk Kempthorne's Endangered
Species Recovery Act (S. 1180). The only problem is that a number
of the organizations listed do not support the bill. One such
group is the San Joaquin County Citizen Land Alliance. The lesson
here is that the timber industry's supporter lists should be viewed
with a great deal of skepticism.

While support for the Kempthorne bill is apparently dwindling,
opposition to the bill is picking up. Opposing the bill are: California
and New Mexico Cattlemen, and the California, Florida, Washington,
Wyoming, and New Mexico farm bureaus.

Just how bad is the Kempthorne bill? "It's so bad even
[Secretary of Interior] Bruce Babbitt likes it... Instead of requiring
the Secretary to compensate landowners when the ESA restricts
the use of their property, S. 1180 requires landowners to compensate
the Secretary for the right to use their own land," writes
the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Ike Sugg in a just-released
commentary. "Yet Senator Kempthorne's office has the audacity
to claim that his bill is actually a 'property rights bill of
rights.' This is Orwellian doublespeak akin to claiming the IRS
code is actually a 'taxpayers' bill of rights.'"

For a copy of Sugg's commentary, contact the Competitive Enterprise
Institute at 202/331-1010.

We Knew the Kyoto Conference Was Full of Hot Air...
2,559 Tons of It

The Relief Report's thanks to People for the USA's January
1998 issue for this tidbit: During last December's global warming
summit in Kyoto, Japan, conference delegates produced some 2,559
tons of carbon dioxide, according to A Seed Japan, a Japanese
environmental group. A Seed Japan further noted that this represents
about half the yearly emissions of Kiribati, a small Pacific Island.
We told you the delegates were full of hot air.

New Releases from The National
Center for Public Policy Research

Talking Points Cards

Global Warming "Consensus" Claim Doesn't Hold Water.
Succinct, pocket-sized card showing that the evidence often cited
to promote the view that a scientific consensus exists on the
global warming theory doesn't hold up under close scrutiny. The
card cites, among other things, climate researcher polling data.

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Copyright 1998, The National Center for Public Policy Research.
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